“...propelled by the hypnotically elastic voice of O'Rourke..." Mel Clarke, The Sunday Times

"A searingly sad tribute to the 1916 widows...The music, composed mostly by Simon O'Connor and performed by soprano Michelle O'Rourke, both attached to the Ergodos contemporary music label, has a taut, elegiac quality laden with emotion. O'Rourke's soprano vocals provided an irresistible soaring beauty - think Kate Bush - and never relaxes its grip." Dick O'Riordan, Sunday Business Post

“O’Rourke’s sweet, operatic vocals glided over bare-bones arrangements from the O’Connor-led band, delivering an unmistakable sense of longing, pining, and loss contained in the stories of these women.” – Joe Masden, The Thin Air

“O’Rourke’s fine technique serves her well as she unassumingly moves from one style to the next, bringing a range of colours to the music. The affecting lyricism of Your face through time (Kathleen’s song) and the deeply soulful blues of From the waters (Muriel’s song) are particular highlights, contrasting strongly with the full-on belting of Holidays (Lillie’s song) – which proves a liberating moment, the singer firmly smothering the now-redundant microphone in her hand.” – Michael Lee, goldenplec.com

“…perhaps the most important record of new Irish music released this year.” ★★★★★ – Paddy Kehoe, RTÉ Ten

“Michelle O’Rourke’s majestic singing is of the kind one associates with Górecki’s Symphony No 3, or Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.” – Paddy Kehoe, RTÉ Ten

“…characteristically intelligent, inquisitive and full of altogether beguiling sounds. With Baroque sensibilities left intact, the overall tone here is contemplative and quietly celebratory… one of the year’s most beautiful and moving discs…” ★★★★★ – Classical Ear

For performances at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2012:

“In the scrum of HCMF’s Free Monday, there were exquisite moments: the Shaker simplicity of Cage’s Experiences No. 2, as sung by Michelle O’Rourke.” – Anna Picard, The Independent UK

“It [music for people who like art by Andrew Hamilton] was both exhilarating and maddening, and Crash [Ensemble], especially the hard-worked mezzo soprano Michelle O’Rourke, made it sound like the ride of a lifetime.” – Michael Dervan, The Irish Times

For performance of Judith Ring’s Mouthpiecefor solo voice and playback:

“Most striking perhaps was the performance of mezzo Michelle O’Rourke, intensely staring down the audience like the embodied figure of music herself, only there to disappear with the last note of her song.” – Liam Cagney, musicalcriticism.com